Cathro wins in Innerleithen

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Great Britain hosted a round of the iXS European Downhill Cup for the first time in Innerleithen this weekend. 275 participants from 15 countries chose to compete in the series' first race in Scotland. The venue is well known outside of Great Britain, so expectations were high going into the event, which drew many World Cup racers.

The series, in its third year, bridges the gap between national racing and World Cup racing, and one week before the Fort William World Cup, international racers were in attendance to test their legs.

Rebuilt for this race, Innerleithen's course dropped 260 meters within 1.6 kilometers, and being technically demanding, the course reflected the strength of the British racing scene. Changing weather conditions made the rooty sections even more tricky, but nevertheless the fast course, with its various steep sections, offered a lot of flow. Although the weather remained typically Scottish for the finals, a lot of spectators lined the course.

In the women's category, the day's decisive duel took shape in the seeding run: Floriane Pugin (Scott 11) and Sabrina Jonnier (Maxxis/Rocky Mountain) were a full 20 seconds faster than the rest, with Jonnier winning the advantage to start last in Sunday’s race. But in the finals, Pugin proved to be faster, winning the race by four seconds. Jonnier followed in second, while Harriet Rücknagel (OnTheEdge) finished in third 22 seconds down.

On Saturday, junior rider Lewis Buchanan (MS Evil Racing) upset the elite men's category, riding the fastest time of the day and being the only rider apart from Nick Beer (Scott 11) to score a time under three minutes. In Sunday's finals, Ben Cathro (MTBcut.tv) was one of the first elite men to start, and his time of 2:57 stood to the very end, giving Cathro a long stay in the Red Bull Hot Seat and a somewhat surprising win in the elite category.

Buchanan proved his quality again and finished in second, closely followed by Matt Simmonds (CRC/Intense iXS). Thus the podium was purely Britsh. Reigning European champion Nick Beer followed in fourth, with Camoron Cole (Maxxis/Rocky Mountain) finishing in fifth.

Both the licensed under 17s and masters' categories were dominated by British riders: Fraser McGlone (All Terrain Cycles) won the juniors' race with a seven-second advantage on Joe Connell (Alpine bikes) and Riku Länsiö (HyPy). In the masters' category, Dale McMullan (Chainreaction Cycles) rode to the top spot of the podium, while Callum Gault (highline racing) and Cavill Jayson followed suit.

The next race of the series will be held on June 26-27 at Leogang’s Out of Bounds-Festival.Full

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